Cracks in the Great Wall

There is one small corner of war-torn South Viet Nam that has managed to maintain a separate peace. Cholon, the teeming Chinese quarter of Saigon, survives behind a Great Wall of indifference to the war--an indifference tempered only by the dictates of business. For it is from the bulging godowns of Cholon that Viet Nam's 1,200,000 "overseas" Chinese dominate almost 90% of the nation's economy. Lately, to Chinese chagrin, that precarious dominance has been threatened. After all, the Chinese of Cholon have been a target for Communist persuasion for the past 20 years.

Business & Pleasure. Chinese Cholon, which means "Great Market," is a six-sq.-mi. enclave of Asian enterprise. In its sprawling, pagodalike marketplace, hunks of meat hang in bloody rows under swarms of flies; withered crones stir their black iron stewpots with k'uai-tzu (chopsticks) while spidery men stagger past under shoulder poles bending to the weight of oil and rice-wine buckets. Over all beats the cacophony of commerce: the steamy hiss of sidewalk cooking kiosks, the piping cry of the noodle vendors, the clash of cymbals advertising the approach of the blind Chinese masseurs who ply their trade in the side streets.

The heart of Cholon's business activity is stretched along the Saigon River, a black, stagnant ribbon of water clogged with gaudy sampans and lined by crumbling warehouses. Into these godowns flows virtually all of Saigon's rice (Chinese control 90% of the nation's crop), and in the plush, air-conditioned clubs above Cholon's shops, coatless, tieless Chinese businessmen in bright Hawaiian sport shirts gather to chiao-chi--transact business in as pleasurable a manner as possible. In clubs such as the Chins Shan (Green Mountain) and Lo-t'ien (Happy Sky), the walls echo to the rattle of mah-jongg stones and the click of poker chips on black teak tables. Plenty of business is consummated as well.

Clocks & Soup Meat. According to Saigon sources, the Cholon Chinese control more than 50% of South Viet Nam's imports, nearly all of the nation's foreign exchange, and most of the dry-goods and textile factories in the country. They have a sizable hand in other commodities ranging from clocks to cement, steel to soup meat.

Until recently, the Reds were content with coercing Cholon with propaganda pamphlets to "our dear brothers and sisters of Chinese ancestry." But since late last year, there have been at least three assassination attempts against leaders of the five Chinese "congregations"--two of them bloodily successful. Viet Cong agents have taken to tossing hand grenades into such Chinese-controlled factories as Vimitex (the Viet Nam-American textile company). Simultaneously, the Viet Cong stepped up their "tax rate" on Chinese goods moving through Red-held territory from the Mekong Delta. "We are here to live and do business," explains one merchant. "We must survive to do business. The Vietnamese government cannot guarantee us security; therefore we must find it where we can. If that means paying V.C. taxes, acceding to V.C. demands, then . . ." The Chinese pay their taxes.

Profits & Neutrality. But the Cholon Chinese also come under increasing pressure from the Saigon government. It was a Chinese profiteer, Ta Vinh, whom Premier Nguyen Cao Ky chose to execute by firing squad last March as an example to other profiteering merchants. Ky also sent "economic police" into Cholon to hunt other profiteers. Properly penitent, the Chinese responded by closing down most of their shops and factories; for three weeks the economy of Saigon was virtually at dead stop. "The effect," says a Chinese official, "was a country-wide shortage of commodities--a shortage the military may well feel in the weeks ahead." Last week the shops were open--but only because Ky had called off his economic cops.

So far, the Chinese of Cholon have maintained their neutrality. Only 3,000 Chinese serve in the Vietnamese army (many are wealthy enough to buy their way out of the draft), and a bare handful have turned up among the Viet Cong. Whether that neutrality can be maintained under Viet Cong and government pressure is a question that plagues American officials. "We all are against Communism," says one Chinese businessman. "The Cholon people hate Communism--but they don't hate Vietnamese Communists."

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